AIDS news

Study tracks patients to better understand effects and possible treatments
December 1 is World AIDS Day, a time to raise awareness about a disease that has afflicted 70 million people worldwide, 35 million of whom have died as a result.

December 1 is World AIDS Day, reminding us that the fight against the AIDS pandemic is far from over. More than 36 million people have died since it emerged in the early 1980s. Today, 35.3 million people around the world are living with the virus. 73,000 Canadians are currently HIV positive up from 49,000 in 2001, according to statistics from the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research (CanFAR).

A Canadian research team at the IRCM in Montréal, led by molecular virologist Éric A. Cohen, PhD, made a significant discovery on how HIV escapes the body’s antiviral responses. The team uncovered how an HIV viral protein known as Vpu tricks the immune system by using its own regulatory process to evade the host’s first line of defence. This breakthrough was published yesterday in the scientific journal PLoS Pathogens and will be presented at the upcoming IAS 2015 conference in Vancouver. The findings pave the way for future HIV prevention or cure strategies.

November 27, 2012 - Clinician-scientists take a unique, integrated approach that is essential to advancing science and medicine. Problems encountered in the clinic inspire research and new findings from the labs are directly applied to patients’ needs. The integrated model is a hallmark of the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital – The Neuro, at McGill University and the MUHC and is now being replicated worldwide.